tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post2049224685800589801..comments2024-03-24T11:30:08.199-07:00Comments on Can you believe?: Leading Friends United Meeting, continuedJohan Maurerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13771067774042071617noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-12002131179732416182010-07-24T15:01:12.205-07:002010-07-24T15:01:12.205-07:00Another correction: Legg Mason & Co. seems to...Another correction: Legg Mason & Co. seems to have been a primarily<br />Episcopal firm. <br />Of course, any outright Christian<br />group in Baltimore Y.M. will be<br />on a different wave length from<br />the rest of the yearly meeting.<br />There's no reason why that should<br />be an insuperable problem. In<br />N.Y.Y.M., there are seven pastoral<br />meetings (one with unprogrammmed<br />worship) and at least six meetings<br />that are non-pastoral and have<br />unprogrammed worship, but are<br />Orthodox in outlook. There are<br />also groups of Friends in the <br />Spirit of Christ and the like.<br />To everyone's surprise, I think,<br />the yearly meeting has become a<br />seedbed for Quaker Christianity.<br />Remember that the yearly meeting<br />has 12 prison meetings now, more<br />than all other yearly meetings<br />combined; some of these are also<br />Christian in outlook.<br />Tne yearly meeting also keeeps<br />coming up with new ideas for<br />Quaker action, which unite all<br />members: the latest is the<br />Quaker relief in the Republic<br />of Georgia---helping the tiny<br />group of Friends there.<br />I think the tensions in the yearly<br />meeting and in U.S.Quakerism are<br />very real and very productive.<br /> Jeremy MottJeremy Mottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-67936583269049906402010-07-14T17:11:52.965-07:002010-07-14T17:11:52.965-07:00West Branch has been that way for a long time. Few...West Branch has been that way for a long time. Few West Branch Friends participate in BYM activities. While remoteness may be a factor, I think a major factor is that they are on a different wave length from much of the YM.Bill Samuelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00752443575410023776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-34297065590569013762010-07-09T16:20:39.826-07:002010-07-09T16:20:39.826-07:00Now I have some good news from my
reliable source ...Now I have some good news from my<br />reliable source in Baltimore Y.M.----news that other prominent Friends in the yearly meeting seem<br />not to know. There is a defacto<br />pastoral meeting in the yearly meeting right now; it's at West Branch, Pa., at the northern limit of the yearly meeting territory. The pastors are volunteers. There might have been paid pastors 50 or 100 years ago; no one seems to know. Also, no one seems to know if the worship is unprogrammed, semi-programmmed, or fully programmed. I imagine that the<br />folks at West Branch are liberal<br />Christians, for they don't seem to <br />grate against the rest of the yearly meeting. Anyhow, it can be<br />done; it is being done, in Baltimore Y.M., right now.<br /> Jeremy MottJeremy Mottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-62712472572303622732010-07-09T16:07:07.896-07:002010-07-09T16:07:07.896-07:00My computer has been broken for a
week, but now I...My computer has been broken for a <br />week, but now I'm back on line.<br />And I must apologize for saying that Baltimore Y.M. is wealthy; I'm<br />reliably informed that, like almost every other Quaker body now, it is in financial straits. However, I do know that there are some very wealthy Friends around Baltimore. I also must apologize for saying that Baltimore Y.M is<br />a place of power plays now; I'm'<br />assured that it isn't true. But it<br />must have been true around 1967. It took the consolidated yearly meetings about 20 years even to come up with a book of discipline.Jeremy Mottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-18165115491777709072010-07-01T10:23:39.392-07:002010-07-01T10:23:39.392-07:00HBCU=Historically Black Colleges and UniversitiesHBCU=Historically Black Colleges and UniversitiesBill Samuelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00752443575410023776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-54491574372417281282010-06-27T13:15:22.307-07:002010-06-27T13:15:22.307-07:00Friends must not imagine that even
in New York Y....Friends must not imagine that even <br />in New York Y.M., with our very<br />different history---almost half of <br />the meetings were already united<br />when the yearly meetings reunited<br />in 1955---two entire quarterly meetings were already united---<br />we still don't have bad effects<br />going back to the Hicksite-Orthodox<br />separation. And in our case, also<br />to the separation between the <br />Progrssives and the other Hicksites. Some of the united<br />meetings now think of themselves<br />and call themselves Hicksites. And<br />in some meetings, a Progressive<br />"anything goes" mentality seems to<br />prevail. Very few of our young<br />people stay with Friends. If it<br />were not for Powell House, always<br />under Orthodox leadership, we'd<br />probably lose almost all the youth.<br />This is what happened in most of<br />U.S. "liberal" Quakerism in the<br />sixties, seventies, and later.<br />It's a shame. Jeremy MottJeremy Mottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-39421752489650789832010-06-27T13:13:51.329-07:002010-06-27T13:13:51.329-07:00Friends must not imagine that even
in New York Y....Friends must not imagine that even <br />in New York Y.M., with our very<br />different history---almost half of <br />the meetings were already united<br />when the yearly meetings reunited<br />in 1955---two entire quarterly meetings were already united---<br />we still don't have bad effects<br />going back to the Hicksite-Orthodox<br />separation. And in our case, also<br />to the separation between the <br />Progrssives and the other Hicksites. Some of the united<br />meetings now think of themselves<br />and call themselves Hicksites. And<br />in some meetings, a Progressive<br />"anything goes" mentality seems to<br />prevail. Very few of our young<br />people stay with Friends. If it<br />were not for Powell House, always<br />under Orthodox leadership, we'd<br />probably lose almost all the youth.<br />This is what happened in most of<br />U.S. "liberal" Quakerism in the<br />sixties, seventies, and later.<br />It's a shame. Jeremy MottJeremy Mottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-79386542138076576102010-06-25T17:23:04.412-07:002010-06-25T17:23:04.412-07:00I confess my ignorance. I don't know what an ...I confess my ignorance. I don't know what an HBCU is. Anyhow,<br />Wilmington College has long had a<br />reputation as a good Quaker place.<br />After yoo were there, I believe,<br />it specialized in college education for prison inmates, until<br />the state of Ohio stopped paying for and stopped allowing this.<br /> Jeremy MottJeremy Mottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-69434987435172229572010-06-24T14:18:06.750-07:002010-06-24T14:18:06.750-07:00Here's a correction: in New York
Y.M., the tw...Here's a correction: in New York<br />Y.M., the two Chappaqua meetings<br />reunited in 1980, 25 years after<br />the two yearly meetings. They<br />sheepishly admit this on their<br />website. Nowhere else in the yearly meeting did this take more<br />than a year or two. Many meetings<br />had been reunited for 20 years or<br />more in 1955. Many had been founded<br />as united meetings. If anyone had<br />proposed further delay of unifica-<br />tion at yearly meeting sessions<br />in 1955, I think they might well<br />have been shouted down.<br />Yet in Baltimore Y.M., the two<br />major meetings in Baltimore are still separate, more than 42 years<br />after the yearly meetings consolidated. The consolidated yearly meeting still has separated<br />finances. Both Stony Run and Home-<br />wood Friends don't like FUM, but<br />they clearly don't trust each<br />other at all. It's a scandal. Actually, if the yearly meeting would take the little groups of<br />Quaker Christians within its<br />territory under its care, maybe this step would help them heal the<br />very deep wounds of a 200-year<br />separation. Time alone doesn't<br />heal these wounds; neither do<br />the deaths of older Friends. Unless one works on these matters,<br />the spirit of separation lasts and<br />lasts, can even get worse over the<br />years. Jeremy MottJeremy Mottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-60212863545473721592010-06-20T17:35:04.276-07:002010-06-20T17:35:04.276-07:00I went to Wilmington College, which was integrated...I went to Wilmington College, which was integrated from its beginning in 1865, I think. At the time I attended, it had the largest percentage of African-American students of any institution of higher education in the USA which was not a HBCU. It's under Wilmington YM, an FUM YM.Bill Samuelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00752443575410023776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-8918258602132912322010-06-20T16:30:05.935-07:002010-06-20T16:30:05.935-07:00Friends connected with Baltimore Y.M. especially: ...Friends connected with Baltimore Y.M. especially: There's a very<br />great danger of self-righteousness<br />among Friends when we argue. In<br />1963, when I graduated in the first<br />graduating class at Sandy Spring<br />Friends School, we had one African-<br />American graduating with us. (Of<br />course, this was an FGC school, for<br />consolidation of the yearly meetings was still several years away.) And at that time, Baltimore Friends School and Sidwell in Washington, the older<br />FGC schools in Baltimore Y.M., had<br />never had a single African-American graduate. They were inte-<br />grating grade by grade; they must<br />have had their first African-American graduates a few years later, about the time that the<br />yearly meetings consolidated. So if<br />resistance to gay rights in FUM<br />is utterly evil, what about racial segregation in FGC? It was a 40-<br />year-long struggle to eliminate<br />racial segregation in Quaker schools and colleges in the North-<br />east, and in most cases the<br />Orthodox schools integrated ahead<br />of the FGC schools. In the Midwest, where almost all Quaker schools and colleges were Orthodox, many were racially<br />integrated from the start. There<br />still is not much racial integra-<br />tion in Friends meeetings them-<br />themselves, of any affiliation.<br /> So the Orthodox did some things better and so did the FGC Friends; and both did some things worse.<br />Sometimes Friends are much too big<br />for our breeches. For example,<br />it is said that Friends are the only church that ever cleared itself of slaveholding. This is true---only in a very narrow sense.<br />For the Church of the Brethren and<br />the Mennonites never allowed their<br />members to own slaves.<br /> Peace, Jeremy MottJeremy Mottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-85631152365260152842010-06-19T18:37:26.128-07:002010-06-19T18:37:26.128-07:00Bill, I imagine that both yearly meetings apportio...Bill, I imagine that both yearly meetings apportioned contributions among their constituent meetings;<br />but nevertheless it was known that<br />certain wealthy Friends gave most of the money---and had inordinate<br />influence on staff. This is only<br />to be expected, though unfortunate.<br />Besides, though I don't know, I think it's possible that Baltimore Y.M. Friends had a number of trust<br />funds, set up by wealthy Friends,<br />that did important things, and acted largely behind the scenes.<br />In still other instances, wealthy<br />and even not-so-wealthy Friends try<br />to share with poorer Friends involved in ministries of various<br />kinds. This is not to be criticized, I think, but it can<br />have some bad effects as well as <br />many good ones. I think it's a<br />good idea to keep these donations-----releasing Friends---anonymous if possible. Jeremy MottJeremy Mottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-53904291900574408722010-06-19T18:19:08.356-07:002010-06-19T18:19:08.356-07:00Thanks Bill, you and other Richmond and former Ric...Thanks Bill, you and other Richmond and former Richmond Friends can be very proud of that<br />meeting because of its Civil War<br />record; I'm sure it's very different now. One interesting fact: John Crenshaw obviously did not think highly of the separation and its rules. Before<br />the Civil War, he worked in close<br />co-operation with the Janney family, Hicksites in Northern Virginia, on the Underground Railroad. On one occasion, at a<br />Quaker wedding, both Crenshaw and one of the Janneys signed the wedding certificate--an un-heard-of<br />breach of discipline; they should<br />not both have been there. And they<br />were not censured at all. You can<br />read about this in Jay Worrall's<br />huge and fine (but biased against<br />the Orthodox in later periods) book The Friendly Virginians. After<br />the Civil War, Richmond meeting<br />long had an orphanage for African-<br />Americans. Jeremy MottJeremy Mottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-62734353963971653122010-06-19T18:01:31.357-07:002010-06-19T18:01:31.357-07:00The practice at BYM until the last couple of years...The practice at BYM until the last couple of years has been to raise all money for general programs through apportionments upon the Monthly Meetings. I think the same was true of both separate YMs, but I'm not sure.<br /><br />In the last couple of years, they've moved to soliciting individual donations and now have a development person on staff. So you wouldn't have had wealthy donors giving directly to the YM pulling strings when the incident happened. It could be a danger in the current environment.Bill Samuelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00752443575410023776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-67173136982823776482010-06-19T17:47:19.119-07:002010-06-19T17:47:19.119-07:00I imagine that staff of Baltimore Y.M.(FGC) worked...I imagine that staff of Baltimore Y.M.(FGC) worked, in reality, for wealthy Friends who paid their salaries. The same sort of thing may have been true at Baltimore (FUM). Thus FMW Friends, and others<br />who wanted unity, had little influence on the outcome. Eventually the idea that FUM Friends are demons spread through the yearly meeting.<br />To make things worse, in 1965<br />Norman Morrison, the exec. secy.<br />(i.e.pastor in all but name) of<br />Stony Run meeting, immolated himself at the Pentagon in protest<br />of the Vietnam war. He almost immolated his baby daughter too.<br />The most prominent members of<br />Stony Run meeting felt obliged<br />to defend him in public and before<br />the press. Yet many Friends, in<br />Baltimore and elsewhere, must have<br />secretly thought he was crazy.<br />It was a terrible time for Friends,<br />and we must not be surprised that<br />Friends did not always behave well.<br /> Baltimore Y.M. is an object lesson in the evil effects of church schism: we still feel them <br />almost 200 years later. And the<br />whole thing was entirely pointless.<br />In 1828 and later, the Orthodox<br />painted Hicks as a heretic, not a<br />Christian, and a liberal. This<br />wasn't true at all; he was very<br />much a Christian (with a few odd<br />ideas), and deeply conservative as<br />a Friend. Later, the Hicksites<br />adopted the Orthodox caricature<br />of Elias Hicks and gloried in it.<br /> PeaceJeremy Mottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-3578893208382852492010-06-19T17:02:01.267-07:002010-06-19T17:02:01.267-07:00When I formally joined Friends in 1966, it was Ric...When I formally joined Friends in 1966, it was Richmond (VA) meeting I joined. At that time, it was small and still had something of an Orthodox flavor. It has grown and changed much since that time.Bill Samuelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00752443575410023776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-78283509745336596322010-06-19T16:52:27.326-07:002010-06-19T16:52:27.326-07:00Bill, I think that the evil spirit
in Baltimore Y....Bill, I think that the evil spirit<br />in Baltimore Y.M. can be easily <br />named: the spirit of separation;<br />the spirit that says one has a monopoly on Truth, and the "other" one is heretical and utterly evil.<br />This spirit can and does capture both sides in a bitter church schism.<br />In 1828, Baltimore Y.M. had its<br />separation between Hicksites and<br />Orthodox. In Baltimore Y.M., the<br />Hicksites were an overwhelming<br />majority. Virginia Y.M. was still<br />a different body, and it did not split, but remained completely Orthodox. However, so many Virginia Quakers moved west to<br />escape slavery that Virginia Y.M.<br />was laid down in the 1840's, and the remnant was joined to Baltimore<br />Y.M.(Orthodox). Now Baltimore Y.M.<br />(Orthodox) was a body of reasonable<br />size, though still much smaller than the Hicksite body.<br />Both yearly meetings suffered in the Civil War. Both had young<br />members who decided to serve in the Union armies. Yet Baltimore<br />Y.M.(Orthodox) clearly suffered <br />much more than the Hicksite Y.M.,<br />for the Orthodox Y.M. still had<br />members in Richmond, Va., and in<br />southeastern Virginia. (Both y.m.'s<br />had a few meetings in extreme <br />northern Virginia.) John Crenshaw,<br />a very great Friend, led Richmond<br />Friends through the war. He per-<br />suaded Jefferson Davis to have Brethren, Mennonite, and Quaker conscientious objectors released from the Confederate army. Since<br />no Northern periodicals were available, he published a newsletter, The Southern Friend,<br />which circulated among Friends in<br />Virginia and North Carolina. After<br />the war, the Orthodox Friends of Baltimore Y.M. led the effort to<br />rebuild North Carolina Quakerism.<br />This was called the Baltimore Assn.; they raised money from all<br />over Orthodox Quakerism for this<br />purpose, and also from Britain and Ireland. (Both y.m.'s spent a lot on educating freedmen in the<br />South.) Johns Hopkins, an Orthodox Baltimore Friend, who could not marry because he was in love with his cousin, gained an enormous fortune in business and founded Johns Hopkins Hospital and University. The King and Thomas<br />families, also Orthodox, founded<br />the B&O Railroad. I don't know if<br />any members of these families are<br />still Friends after 1967; I doubt it. On the Hicksite side, Legg Mason & Co., an investmnt firm, was (and is) incredibly successful; it is the second largest investment firm in Baltimore (after T.Rowe Price).<br /> I don't know what members of the<br />two yearly meetings did in World<br />War I. I think both produced some<br />conscientious objectors in World <br />War II. By 1967, both yearly meetings must have been under great pressure from FMW---the only<br />meeting in the y.m. of any size<br />that was already united---to reunite. (After all. FMW's meeting-<br />house had been built with Herbert Hoover's money as a united meeting-house.) It was a shotgun marriage;<br />and FUM was the scapegoat.<br /> I'll continue. Jeremy MottJeremy Mottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-59233281271408091292010-06-19T13:30:00.231-07:002010-06-19T13:30:00.231-07:00Friend Bill, All of what you say is
almost certain...Friend Bill, All of what you say is<br />almost certainly true. Therefore, until the evil spirit can be exor-<br />cised, Quaker Christians will probably have to work around BYM.<br />I don't think this is so true in<br />any other united yearly meeting or<br />formerly united one, including<br />Philadelphia and Southeastern.<br />Meanwhile, to be charitable, I think we should keep some good things in mind about BYM:<br />(1) BYM is paying the way for Ann<br />Riggs to be the director of Friends Theological College in Kenya, with some of the money it had witheld<br />from FUM previously.. This is an<br />important Christian ministry, even though it is abroad. (2) BYM runs<br />what is undoubtedly the best system<br />of Quaker youth camps in the U.S.A.<br />Yes, these camps teach Light-centered not Christ-centered Quakerism. But no small number of<br />these campers go on to Guilford and some become Christ-centered <br />Friends there, in the program of<br />Max Carter and Deborah Shaw. (3)<br />Tom Fox, a Christian martyr I believe, was a member of Langley Hill meeting and a former employee of Baltimore Y.M. So it is possible for some people to find ways to be Christ-centered Friends<br />in Baltimore Y.M. (4) The FMW <br />meeting website includes some very<br />Christian language; it probably<br />represents honest sentiments of <br />some Friends. (5) Not only Ann<br />Riggs but also Joyce Ajlouny raises<br />a lot of money in BYM, in Bethesda meeting and in Sandy Spring mtg.<br /><br />I'm afraid that the truth is the<br />ancient bitterness of the Hicksite-<br />Orthodox separation lasted much longer in Baltimore Y.M., especially in Stony Run meeting, and maybe in Homewood as well. I know Bliss Forbush entitled his biography of Elias Hicks "Quaker Liberal"---which wasn't the truth<br />at all---Elias Hicks was very much<br />a Christian, even if some of his<br />theology was unorthodox, and very<br />much a conservative in Quaker terms. I think, too, that even more than in the two Philadelphia<br />Y.M.'s, the two Baltimore Y.M.'s<br />were very much the "property" of<br />some wealthy Friends, who remained very antagonistic to each other and<br />probably still do. (Of course,<br />the two Phila. y.m.'s were the <br />"property" of wealthy Friends too,<br />but at least at Arch St., an ecumenical spirit prevailed by<br />World War I and afterwards.)<br />I doubt if any large meeting in<br />the Baltimore Y.M.'s really favored re-unification except for <br />Friends Meeting of Washington, and<br />even there there must have been some hesitancy. I know members and former members of FMW and Stony<br />Run meetings who believe to this<br />day that FUM is something evil, as<br />if they were forced to accept it.<br />The Baltimore Y.M.'s are a place<br />of power plays, I'm afraid, much<br />like FUM at its worst. They will<br />have to solve this themselves.<br /> Jeremy MottJeremy Mottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-16119133645394780632010-06-18T17:20:39.805-07:002010-06-18T17:20:39.805-07:00Jeremy,
Yes, I follow Peggy Senger Parsons. She ...Jeremy, <br /><br />Yes, I follow Peggy Senger Parsons. She is a very interesting Friend.<br /><br />I went to the Spiritual Nurturer Program with Beckey Phipps, but have not kept up with her since.<br /><br />There is something of an ugly history connected with the consolidation of the Baltimore YMs. There was a real ugliness among some of the Hicksite Friends, and there has been real ugliness by some to FUM ever since. At one point, the entire staff lobbied the membership against FUM. They should have been fired, but instead the YM largely followed their lead.<br /><br />There are a lot of good people in BYM, but I became convinced that there is an evil spirit in the YM. Such spirits are not the fault of present members, but it is only possible to remove such a spirit with a massive amount of prayer and a real desire by the group to move forward. See Walter Wink's writings for more about such spirits and how the scripture talks about them.<br /><br />Having only come into BYM around the time of the consolidation, I'm not sure whether the spirit there is a result of the machinations and lack of integrity around that process, or was pre-existing.Bill Samuelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00752443575410023776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-28844565139132814052010-06-18T16:16:49.238-07:002010-06-18T16:16:49.238-07:00Bill Clendening, I don't think that
FUM ever o...Bill Clendening, I don't think that<br />FUM ever obtained authority over<br />its constituent yearly meetings.<br />Some Friends cetainly wanted this<br />in the early days of FYM; but no<br />yearly meeting accepted it, so far<br />as I know.<br />Of course, you're right that yearly meetings used to have authority over their constituent<br />monthly meetings. In some cases,<br />this still happens. When a monthly<br />meeting is very small and is laid<br />down, usually the yearly meeting<br />takes over its property. Right now, the N.Y.Y.M. trustees are trying to clear the title and dispose of the property of the<br />monthly meeting at Monkton Ridge,<br />Vermont, which laid itself down<br />maybe 15 years ago.<br />Yet when a Friends meeting or church is so out of sympathy with<br />its yearly meeting that it wants to<br />withdraw, it usually is allowed to <br />do so. Even among Orthodox Friends.<br />What would be the point of trying<br />to force it to stay? The yearly<br />meeting can only wish the departing monthly meeting well, and hope it finds a more congenial yearly meeting to join. For yearly meetings are still important to<br />Friends, as spiritual homes even<br />when they are not looked on as authoritative. Does this make<br />sense to you?<br /> Jeremy MottJeremy Mottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-51619941752641654602010-06-18T09:36:03.504-07:002010-06-18T09:36:03.504-07:00Friend Bill,
I'd like to say a little bit more...Friend Bill,<br />I'd like to say a little bit more<br />about evanelical and explicitly<br />Christian lesbian and gay Friends.<br />Do you follow Peggy Senger Parsons? She is an openly lesbian<br />evangelical Friend, a pastor, from<br />Oregon. Of course she cannot be<br />part of Northwest Y.M. So she set<br />up an independent Freedom Friends<br />Church, which wrote its own book<br />of discipline and has brought in<br />members from EFI, FUM, FGC, and<br />non-Quaker backgrounds. Her blogs<br />are worthwhile; you can read them<br />under "A Poor Silly Gospel."<br />And guess what? She travels to<br />Burundi every year, and works with<br />Friends there. She buys handicrafts<br />and sells them back in the U.S.A.<br />I think she's in Burundi now.<br />Or read about Beckey Phipps. Her<br />story can be found in the Quaker<br />Bible Reader---a fascinating book<br />in any case, an anthology by two<br />Earlham School of Religion teachers. She is a lesbian, who<br />after much internal struggle, became a Christian and a Friend. She is a graduate of the Spiscopal School of Diviinity and thus is<br />certainly qualified to be a pastor. She is also a graduate<br />of the School of the Spirit; she<br />has taught Bible in New England<br />Y.M. and at FGC sessions (Even<br />Philadelphia Quakerism has room<br />for Quaker Christians; as you <br />know the y.m. took School of the<br />Spirit under its care.) She works<br />in "church administration" in Boston.<br />That doesn't sound interesting.<br />Maybe she and her partner would be<br />interested in trying to do in Wash-<br />inton what Peggy Senger Parsons did in Portland. Of course, it<br />would be an enormous financial gamble for them; but I think some<br />Friends would help out.<br />There are still other lesbian <br />pastors around. I've heard that<br />there is an openly lesbian pastor<br />in North Carolina Y.M. (FUM), but<br />I don't know if this is true.<br />Also, your story should be heard<br />by everyone in Baltimore Y.M.<br />I don't think it would split<br />the yearly meeting; but it might<br />make them ashamed of themselves,<br />They use their FUM affiliation to prevent genuine FUM Quaker Christians from organizing. No<br />other yearly meeting does that.<br />The truth should be told.<br /> Peace, Jeremy MottJeremy Mottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-51585265700788637882010-06-17T18:46:13.268-07:002010-06-17T18:46:13.268-07:00Friends, I also unite wholeheartedly with the FUM ...Friends, I also unite wholeheartedly with the FUM purpose<br />statement that appears in every<br />issue of Quaker Life. I know that<br />many of my fellow members of N.Y.<br />Y.M. would unite with it, and many would not. Our unity in N.Y.Y.M.<br />is not based on such theological statements, however simple. We<br />don't argue about these matters.<br />We simply seek to follow the Spirit, to be guided by the Light, to live in the power of Christ Within, by whatever language one<br />uses. And this seems to unite the<br />Religious Society of Friends world-<br />wide pretty well, as well as a truly united yearly meeting like N.Y.Y.M. F.U.M., being part of<br />the Orthodox tradition of Friends, <br />needs a basic Christian theology as well.<br />Let's put this theology to use. What should we say or do about the amazing events happening in the eastern Mediterranean? Great<br />unarmed flotillas, manned by both<br />Muslims and Christians, try to<br />break the Israeli blockade of<br />Gaza. This blockade is causing<br />literal starvation among the people of Gaza. You can find<br />out about this on the FCNL website, also on the<br />AFSC website, and in detail on<br />Friend Helena Cobban's blog, available on the Baltimore Y.M. website. It's yearly meeting<br />season now in the U.S.A. Does<br />anyone have some ideas?<br /> Peace, Jeremy MottJeremy Mottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-53437049664691255262010-06-17T17:37:37.866-07:002010-06-17T17:37:37.866-07:00That point is interesting, Bill.
Maybe the reason ...That point is interesting, Bill.<br />Maybe the reason Quaker numbers<br />stopped growing recently in the<br />Washington, D.C., area, is the<br />resistance in Baltimore Y.M. to<br />a clearly Christian version of<br />Quakerism. Both liberal Quakerism, without insistence on<br />the Inward Light as the Christ<br />Within, and Quaker Christianity.<br />seem to get along well elsewhere, even in the U.S.A. And there certainly are plenty of potential<br />Friends in the Washington area, for<br />the government never stops growing.<br /> I would guess that in Greenville, S.C., a city of moderate size, there was no Friends meeting even 15 years ago.<br />Now there are three: one is SAYMA, one is Ohio (Conservative),<br />and one is North Carolina (Cons.)<br />Someone must have prayed hard for<br />a Friends meeting, and look what<br />happened! This is simply an<br />extreme example of how Friends have<br />multiplied in many deep-South<br />states, including Virginia.<br /> The fact is that a strong<br />Christian wind is blowing in the<br />Religious Society of Friends, and<br />any group that tries to deny this<br />is likely to suffer, and surely<br />won't accomplish their desire.<br /> Please don't be sure that<br />evangelical Friends won't work <br />with others. When Chwele Y.M.<br />in Kenya joined FUM a couple of years ago, they said---I paraphrase---that they were Christians who believe in Christ as Lord and Savior; they knew that some Friends believed differently; they wished to be part of FUM anyway. This sort of attitude is not universal, but is very common.<br />I think that some evangelical Friends in the U.S.A., and some in<br />the evangelical wing of FUM, and<br />many "liberal" Friends, are all<br />afraid of losing control. Yet <br />they are going to lose control, no matter what. New times demand new ideas and new leadership, good or bad. In the last five years ago,<br />the Asia and West Pacific Section<br />of FWCC has embraced evangelical<br />Quakerism. The new Philippines<br />Evangelical Friends Church, founded by a young pastor who decided on his own that he was<br />a Friend, sought affiliation with <br />FWCC, and received it, to the<br />consternation of some Friends in<br />Australia, New Zealand, and Japan<br />(and no doubt the approval of most Friends in India). Yet they'll<br />get over it, I'm sure. I think<br />the new evangelical yearly meetings in Nepal and Indonesia<br />will also join FWCC; several small<br />new evangelical groups in India<br />have joined already. The Asia<br />section newsletter is published<br />in both Hindi and English.<br /> Remember it takes only two<br />metings to form an association!<br />There are only two, Whittier and<br />Berkeley, in the Western Assn.;<br />they certainly weren't the biggest<br />in California Y.M., but they are<br />in important college towns. So it<br />would take only two Quaker Christian fellowhips, in the Washington area, to form an association, which might have to<br />be independent. <br /> And we should encourage more<br />co-operation with the Church of<br />the Brethren, which has a wonderful volunteer service, now<br />60 years old. We don't need our<br />own. Maybe AFSC could pay for Friends to use BVS; now we use<br />it for free. Peace, Jeremy MottJeremy Mottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-29297326496306638542010-06-17T15:02:13.802-07:002010-06-17T15:02:13.802-07:00One point, Jeremy. Quakers have not been growing ...One point, Jeremy. Quakers have not been growing in numbers in the Washington area for awhile. There was a huge rise in the 2nd half of the 20th century, but no more.Bill Samuelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00752443575410023776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-78756416523371368492010-06-17T14:23:50.768-07:002010-06-17T14:23:50.768-07:00Bill and others,
I'd like to bring the Clarenc...Bill and others,<br />I'd like to bring the Clarence Pickett Fund to the attention of<br />readers. This was formed, about 15<br />years ago, by Wilmer Tjossem and<br />the descendants of Clarence Pickett and others, Friends from the liberal wing of Iowa Y.M.<br />(FUM), who had gone east, before<br />or after World War II, to work<br />for AFSC or FCNL or CCCO or other Quaker groups. They must have been <br />heartsick at what had happened <br />at AFSC; it no longer provided<br />"hands-on" opportunities for young<br />Friends to do Quaker service. They<br />decided not to curse the darkness.<br />They started a fund, with not a lot<br />of money, that provides grants to<br />young Friends, from every branch<br />of our Society, to do projects<br />of their own devising. Everything<br />except college study. Already,<br />our Quaker leaders are coming from<br />this fund. Look it up on the web, if you haven't already.Jeremy MottJeremy Mottnoreply@blogger.com